Stock Market News for March 29, 2012 - Market News
29 März 2012 - 11:06AM
Zacks
A disappointing durable goods
report and falling crude prices created enough selling pressure for
the markets to fall yesterday. Declining crude prices crushed
energy and commodity stocks, eventually dampening the overall
sentiment. Experts also noted that the rush for buying stocks at
the quarter end has somewhat faded.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJI) was down 0.5% and settled at 13,126.21. The Standard &
Poor 500 (S&P 500) dropped 0.5% to close yesterday’s trading
session at 1,405.54. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed
the day at 3,104.96, after losing 0.5%. The fear-gauge CBOE
Volatility Index (VIX) remained almost flat, dropping a mere 0.12
points to settle at 15.47. Consolidated volumes on the New York
Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the Amex were 6.84 billion shares,
marginally higher than the daily average volume of 6.83 billion.
For 19 stocks that declined on the NYSE, 11 stocks managed to climb
higher.
All of these benchmarks were down
by almost the same percentage yesterday. Also, even though the
indices have moved into the negative zone, the Dow, S&P 500 and
Nasdaq are still hovering above their individual key levels of
13000, 1400, and 3000, respectively. The S&P 500 had dropped
below 1, 400 during the last few trading sessions, but rebounded
back to above 1400 this Monday following Ben Bernanke’s comments
that economic growth is required for unemployment to decline
appreciably.
While investors have been receiving
encouraging domestic data since late-December, they have been
deterred somewhat over the past couple of weeks by dismal housing
data and a drop in consumer confidence that was reported on
Tuesday. Yesterday too, economic data bogged down sentiment after
the Commerce Department reported lower-than-expected increase in
orders for new goods.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced a
2.2% increase in new orders for manufactured durable goods which
came in at $211.8 billion for February. This jump comes after a
3.6% drop in January. Nonetheless, the increase was well below
expectations and was a drag on the markets yesterday. Consensus
estimates were hoping for a 2.8% increase. The Durable Goods Orders
index is a major indicator of manufacturing sector trends as most
industrial production is done on orders, and thus the trend
reflected by the index plays a large role in markets’
direction.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil futures
dropped sharply amidst news that he U.S. and Europe might release
some oil reserves. The drop in crude prices dented the energy as
well as the materials sector. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE)
was down 1.3% and stocks including Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX),
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO),
Western Refining Inc. (NYSE:WNR) and Chesapeake Energy Corporation
(NYSE:CHK) slumped 1.1%, 1.1%, 1.2%, 1.4% and 4.1%, respectively.
As for the material sector, stocks like Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE:AA), AK
Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS), Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE)
and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) dropped
2.3%, 4.3%, 1.3% and 3.6%, respectively.
Some experts were of the view that
the rush to stock up one’s portfolio ahead of the quarter end was
fading. On Tuesday, a rush to buy certain preferred stocks had
helped roughly 175 stocks to achieve 52-weeks highs. This included
the likes of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), The Coca-Cola
Company (NYSE:KO), The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), The Home
Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM),
Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) and Western Digital
Corporation (NYSE:WDC).
ALCOA INC (AA): Free Stock Analysis Report
AK STEEL HLDG (AKS): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMER EXPRESS CO (AXP): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHESAPEAKE ENGY (CHK): Free Stock Analysis Report
CONOCOPHILLIPS (COP): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHEVRON CORP (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report
DISNEY WALT (DIS): Free Stock Analysis Report
FREEPT MC COP-B (FCX): Free Stock Analysis Report
HOME DEPOT (HD): Free Stock Analysis Report
INTL BUS MACH (IBM): Free Stock Analysis Report
COCA COLA CO (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report
LOCKHEED MARTIN (LMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
MARATHON OIL CP (MRO): Free Stock Analysis Report
NUCOR CORP (NUE): Free Stock Analysis Report
WESTERN DIGITAL (WDC): Free Stock Analysis Report
WESTERN REFING (WNR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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